BOOM music service relaunch

How to launch a streaming service against powerful ecosystems and turn a redesign into a product relaunch.

Period: 2018–2021
Role: Lead Product Designer
Team: Cross-functional product team
Result: Session length +20%; higher subscription conversion

The project in brief

BOOM needed to find its place in a market where users already had music in VK, Yandex Music, and Apple Music, while Spotify was about to enter Russia. The task was broader than a new visual style: we had to rebuild the key streaming workflows, help people discover music, move their existing library, and keep listening without unnecessary setup.

I started the project as the lead designer: mapping workflows, prototyping, finding the structure for the main sections and player, and shaping the visual direction. As the product grew, the team expanded, and I continued to own the direction and key decisions in a highly uncertain project that had to be assembled almost from scratch.

The product gained personalised mixes and radio, a new home screen, search, a library, and a workflow for migrating music from social networks. After launch, session length grew by 20%, while paid conversion and store ratings increased.

Opening screens of BOOM music service — BOOM’s evolution from its first MVP to the final version.

Nobody needed another streaming service

By the time of the relaunch, people’s listening habits were already split across major products and ecosystems. Competing with a new cover or one more track catalogue made no sense. BOOM had to answer two clear questions: why would someone open this service, and how would it fit into the musical life they already had?

That is why we treated the task as a product relaunch. The visual language mattered, but it had to support discovery, recommendations, personal libraries, and listening—not replace them.

My role changed with the project’s scale

I started the relaunch as the lead designer: personally mapping workflows, prototyping key scenarios, finding the visual direction, and designing the main sections and player. I owned the direction and key decisions in a highly uncertain project—the product had to be assembled almost from scratch.

As the scope grew, the team expanded and moved into Figma. I stayed personally involved in the difficult product decisions and helped the team keep a single direction.

First the product map, then the screens

Before detailed design, I mapped the workflows across the entire service. The map covered the home screen, search, profiles, artists, playlists, radio, concerts, social signals, and personal music. It helped us see the product as a connected system and decide which workflows should support each other.

User workflow map for BOOM music service — The product map connected search, recommendations, radio, artists, playlists, profiles, and personal music before detailed design began.

Then came the prototypes. We were not testing the look of individual cards; we were testing how people found new music, returned to recently played tracks, moved between recommendations, artists, and playlists, and managed their library.

Only then did I move into visual exploration and detailed design. This order kept polished screens from hiding structural problems.

Early prototypes of BOOM’s key workflows — Early versions tested the structure of the home screen, search, and recommendations before the final visual language was chosen.

The home screen and player had to work as one experience

The home screen brought together recently played music, new releases, recommendations, friends’ music, and personalised collections. It had to offer a familiar starting point quickly while also opening a path to something new.

The player supported continuous listening and moving to the next piece of content without pulling the user away from the current track. Sections, cards, and states were designed as parts of one experience rather than a set of independent showcases.

We worked through the details—queue, settings, actions, placeholders, and micro-animations—but every detail only mattered in relation to the main product workflow: start the music and spend as little attention as possible managing the interface.

Main sections and player of BOOM music service — The main sections and player formed one continuous listening experience rather than a set of independent screens.

Migration became part of the product, not a utility screen

At first we underestimated migration. But moving to a new music service meant risking the loss of tracks, playlists, and a familiar library structure.

We therefore made moving music from social networks a separate workflow with clear progress and states. Users could see how many tracks had been added, choose the songs they wanted, and get a warning when their device was running out of space. Migration became a clear part of the first BOOM experience.

Music migration and library screens in BOOM — Moving music from social networks, upload progress, and a free-space warning guided users through migration.

A visual system helped the product and team scale

As the product and team grew, a collection of successful screens was no longer enough. We built a shared visual system: TT Norms typography, an extended palette, patterns, gradients, and the Musicman character, including a 3D version.

The system gave BOOM a recognisable character while helping several designers work consistently. In this case, it is not a separate rebrand story; it is infrastructure for the product relaunch and for working as a team.

Content cards from BOOM’s visual system — Content cards show how the palette, typography, and graphic devices worked across formats.

BOOM music service screens in the visual system — One visual language connected the home screen, player, mixes, albums, and track lists.

Icons and actions from BOOM’s visual system — Icons and actions supported a consistent language for controlling the player and library.

Refining the visual style

After the first pass through the interface, one final layer of expression remained. To cover that last 10%, we made another pass. Inside the team, we put the brief simply: “It needs more sex”—more character and magnetism without losing the clarity of the workflows.

We strengthened the visual hierarchy, details, and emotional quality of the interface while preserving the product foundation we had tested through prototypes.

Updated BOOM home screen with personalised recommendations — The home screen, personalised recommendations, and content cards gained a more expressive composition.

Updated BOOM player and track-list screens — The player and track lists formed one listening workflow with a flexible colour theme.

Updated BOOM artist pages — Artist pages gained a shared structure that preserved each performer’s character.

Results

+20%session length
Upsubscription conversion
4.0+store rating

Before I moved to Market, we had ideas for the next stage: an Apple Watch app, a desktop version, tickets, integration with Marusya, and other touchpoints. It is great to see many of those ideas reflected in the new VK Music.

Key takeaways

A product relaunch cannot be reduced to a new skin. It works when the team changes the structure, key workflows, the way user value is carried over, and the system for working together at the same time.

For me, BOOM was a project where personal responsibility for key decisions combined with work on the team’s shared direction. The goal was not only to make strong screens, but to assemble a coherent solution under high uncertainty.

What I would do differently now

I would not build a “spherical horse in a vacuum” in the first phase. I would account for rights-holder requirements and the imperfections of the source music databases from the start.